Before I knew
by water wolf 100
Summary: He had always been there for her. Before she knew him, he was there. They had a bond that spanned across time.


**Hi there. My name is Water Wolf 100, but you can just call me Wolfie. I'm new to Doctor Who-both in fanfiction and actually watching the episodes. I started watching them at the end of August and fell in love with them. I started out with Matt Smith as the Doctor, but then went back to see David Tennant and I fell in love with him and Rose. It took all of one episode with them to have it become my OTP. Ever since, I've been trying to come up with some sort of plot with the two of them. I have a multi chap in the works, but I don't know when that will be done. I came up with this yesterday and decided to go through with writing it, just to see where it led. I took about 45 minutes typing this so I don't know how good it actually is. If CC is required, I'm all for it. I want to hear opinions and thoughts from those of you who have been here a while. I would really appreicate some input, so for now I guess I'll leave. I apoligize for any possible OOCness, or mistakes in continunity, I'm still new like I said. For now, peace out. **

**~Wolfie**

* * *

><p>Before I knew<p>

For the first time, the TARDIS was quiet. As Rose wandered down a hallway she listened intently for the familiar sound of the Doctor talking to himself. She was so used to hearing his voice carrying through the TARDIS that the lack of it was unnerving.

With a glance down at her watch, Rose saw that it was only half past one. By now the Doctor should have been knee deep in TARDIS maintenance. On the days they weren't on an adventure, he was tinkering.

"Doctor?" Rose called as she reached the control room. With a puzzled expression Rose realized that he wasn't there. "Where did he go?" Somewhat annoyed Rose continued on her search for him. She checked the kitchen, the swimming pool, the mechanics room, but he was nowhere to be found.

As she walked past the door to the library, Rose heard a crash followed by someone muttering angrily. Rose pushed the door open and slipped inside. Plopped down on the floor, and surrounded by stacks of books two meters high, was the Doctor. All over the ground around him, were other books. Immediately Rose noticed that one stack of books was a great deal shorter than the others.

When Rose walked into the library the Doctor looked up at her and grinned. "What are you doing in here? I've been looking all over for you," Rose said with a small laugh as she sat down next to the Doctor.

"Searching for something. One of these books has a piece of paper in it that I need." The Doctor swept his hands over the stacks. He then proceeded to pick up another off the floor and skim through its contents. He didn't find what he was looking for, so with a gentle toss he threw it behind him. It landed on the ground with a gentle thump.

"Do you need any help?" Rose picked up one of the books and glanced at the cover. It was an old book. Bound with faded red leather, it was covered with strange symbols. She recognized the symbols as Gallifreyan. She couldn't read it, but she had seen the same symbols on the TARDIS monitors.

"Sure, why not? It's a piece of paper, written in Gallifreyan. It should be tucked in one of these books somewhere." As he spoke, the Doctor picked up another book but put it down seconds later. Rose began to flip through the books, but none of them had any paper in them.

As she set another books down Rose glanced over at the Doctor. His glasses were perched at the end of his nose, and his brow was furrowed in concentration. Rose chucked softly to herself. He must have been searching for this book all day. When she turned back to her book, Rose just happened to glance down at the illustration on one of the pages.

Staring up at her was a face that looked strangely familiar to her. Like she had seen it once before, a very long time ago. Centuries old eyes peered up her, masked slightly by a mass of curly blonde hair. A soft smile graced the man's lips. "Doctor?" Rose asked softly.

"Hmm?" he responded, without looking up from his book.

"Doctor?" Rose asked more forcefully. His eyes glanced up at her, confused. "Was this you?" Rose passed him the book, and watched as he look at the image before him.

"Ah yeah. That was a long time ago." He handed the book back to Rose and went back to his own.

Rose studied the image for a moment longer. Then, like the memory had never left her, she remembered. "I've seen this regeneration of you before," she said gently. That got the Doctor's attention. He set his own book down, and stared at Rose. "It was years ago, I had to have been maybe six. Mum was grocery shopping. I walked behind her, not really paying attention to where I was walking. At some point I looked up and I couldn't see my mum anywhere. I wandered around for a while, calling out to her. At some point I stopped in the middle of the aisle and started crying. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was all alright."

Rose stopped for a moment, trying to recall all the details of that day. "I told him I couldn't find my mum. He took my hand and led me down the aisle. He took me to the other side of the market, and led me straight to my mum. I remember running right up to her, crying and sobbing. When I turned around to thank the man that helped me, he was gone. For a long time, the only thing I could remember was that he had blonde hair and wore a multi-colored coat."

"And I remembered the green ribbons in the hair of that little girl," the Doctor replied to her. "It was in pigtails if I recall."

"It was you. All those years ago, I had met you. You helped me."

"You were a little girl, all alone and crying. I couldn't leave you there all alone. You looked so scared."

"Well it's taken sixteen years but I finally get to say this. Thank you. Thank you so much. I wanted to tell you then, but you were long gone."

"Oh you know me, can't stay in one place for very long. So many places to see, only so much time to see them."

"I just can't believe that before I knew you, I knew you. As soon as I think I get time travel, something new gets thrown at me."

"Wibbly wobby timey wimey," the Doctor said with a wide grin. "You can never fully understand it. There's no real point in trying to figure it out. Besides, isn't it more fun to not fully get it? Where's the fun in knowing everything?" Rose rolled her eyes and playfully smacked him in the arm.

Rose turned her attention back to the book. Each page had the illustration of one of the Doctor's regenerations. The two of them sat on the floor, looking at each drawing. He would tell her stories about each form, about some of the different places he travelled to.

As Rose looked at each face, she saw that his eyes never changed. They were always the same, filled with knowledge. Eyes far beyond the face they belonged to. On more than one occasion, Rose recognized the faces of the Doctor. At different times in her life, he showed up. When she and her mum ended up stranded on the side of the road, a kind man fixed their car for them. Another time an elderly man helped Rose carry groceries from the car to the flat.

He also showed shortly after Rose got into a fight with her mum. She remembered running out of the flat, tears streaming down her face. She remembered being sp upset that she ran right out into the middle of the street. A car had been coming down the road and was about to hit her, but someone pushed her out of the way.

"Even back then, you still had a habit of walking right into trouble," the Doctor teased. "That car would have crushed you flat."

"What would I have done without you?" she stuck her tongue out at him, but lost her joking manner when she saw the look on the Doctor's face. "What is it?"

"Of all the people in the universe. Of all the times and places to travel to, I met you so many times. I never knew that it was the same girl each time. And I couldn't even begin to think that someday I would be traveling with that girl. The probability of that happening is…is…"

"Is not important right now. It happened and I'm here. And you were there for me then. You were there at the times I needed you the most, and you're still here now. That's all that matters. We're both here. We're together." She reached over and took the Doctor's hand in hers. Their fingers laced together perfectly, and they grinned at each other.

"That's right. And we're going to be together for a long time aren't we?"

"Forever." For several seconds they just sat there, looking at each other. Rose was still trying to wrap her mind around how much the Doctor had been in her life, even before she knew he was. Perhaps that was a sign that they would always be together. Rose knew that she was going to do everything she could to keep things the way they were.

When they finally broke their gaze, Rose picked up another book and opened the front cover. Sitting there was a faded piece of paper. She picked it up and grinned. "Doctor, is this what you're looking for?" She held up the paper. His eyes growing wide he snatched it with the hand that wasn't holding Rose's and let his eyes skim over it.

"Brilliant!" He leapt up from the floor and pulled Rose to her feet. He took off running, pulling Rose behind him.

"Where are we going?" Rose called as they reached the control room.

"It's a surprise. But you're going to love it, trust me."

"I do." She smiled as the Doctor began pulling some levers and pressing random buttons. With the familiar rattle, TARDIS took off, racing through the space-time vortex.

Absent mindedly, Rose leaned forward to give the Doctor the lightest of kisses on his cheek. Clearly surprised, he turned to her and asked, "What was that for?"

Rose shrugged. "Just saying thank you for everything you've ever done for me."

The Doctor then wrapped his arms around her in a secure hug. As he pulled away, he placed a kiss on her forehead. "You're welcome."

* * *

><p><strong>I hope that wasn't total rubbish. The more familiar I am with a catagory, the better the stories tend to be. This was mostly just a test run, to see if I could actually write a Doctor Who fic. Prettly please review. They feed my plot bunny Skip. <strong>


End file.
